Cranked
An update from SA advertiser McConaghy boats in Sydney and in China reveals that they have plenty on.
At McConaghy Sydney, construction of the new Lutra 80, a high performance canting keel cruiser-racer for use in the Mediterranean, is well underway. To cope with their growing business McConaghy China is expanding once again and will soon be moving into their third 2,500 square meter facility located next to their two existing buildings. On the floor in the China facility is a 70 foot carbon fibre Reichel Pugh racing yacht and a 130′ power trimaran designed by John Shuttleworth. On the production side of things they are building the Mach 2, the Elliott 6m and the Audi Melges 20 along with marine and industrial components.
The Mach 2, the next generation of foiling moth, made its remarkable début at the Zhik Australian Moth National Championships in January skippered by Simon Payne who finished second. Australian Olympian Nathan Outteridge won the regatta, sailing a McConaghy built Blade Rider. It was a tight battle for first and second between the two McConaghy moths. McConaghy has also been selected to build the Elliott 6m, the newly appointed Women’s Match Racer for the 2012 Olympics. The Elliot 6m is a highly manoeuvrable three person match racer. Sailing World’s Boat of the Year, the Audi Melges 20 is also coming out of the McConaghy facility to rave reviews.
Recession? Meltdown? What is going on here? Managing Director Jono Morris at McConaghy Australia explains.
"McConaghy Boats has been building continuously for over 40 years now and there’re many factors that contribute to our ability survive difficult times. Through the years, good and bad we’ve been constantly improving, creating and finding innovative ways to build composite yachts and components to make them lighter, stronger and more reliable. Between Sydney and China, we have 10,000 square meters of floor space and we have all the equipment and technology required to make a go of it, but it’s our staff that make the difference. We employee some of the very best in the business and we keep them challenged whether we’re building a Maxi yacht for racing or a carbon fibre industrial component for an oil rig. Expanding our breadth and diversifying into many different industrial components such as emergency exit ramps for the train industry, composite parts for naval vessels, calibrated tubes for aeronautical applications, and architectural products has enabled us to increase our client base and of course our technical scope. In short, our longevity and success has been about having the right tools, an incredible team, knowing, what we are good at and really working as hard as we can to provide a product that people value. It’s not just about building fast boats!"
